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>I've gone on record saying that his run on Daredevil is the
>best it's been since Frank Miller was on the title, and
>probably the best mainstream work of Bendis' career. I stand
>by that.
I actually might put Ultimate Spider-Man ahead of Daredevil. But not by much.
>CO-FUCKING SIGN. This shit was criminally slept on. Plot,
>characterization, mood, story, were all top notch Bendis. It
>was everything that was good about the crime shit he was doing
>with Image at the time, combined with some of the ideas being
>touched on in Powers, only w/ the street level Marvel Universe
>as his background. I loved that shit. It's even better when
>read in conjunction w/ his Daredevil run.
All that and Luke Cage fucking Jessica Jones in the ass. I also did like the lil' tie-ins to Dardevil.
>There's been a mild decline in quality since it came under the
>Icon imprint, but I regard the first five or six volumes of
>Powers as easily some of the most awesomely EPIC comics to hit
>the stands in the past decade.
I've been enjoying it since it shifted to Icon, though I prefered the straight up crime stories to his bigger "What does it mean to be a superhero?" stories. One of my main problems with Bendis is that he seems obsessed wtih adding artifical grandeur to everything he writes. More on that later.
>Agreed. And that's saying a LOT when you consider that
>Ultimate Spider-Man was consistently at the top of my reading
>pile despite how much I HATE - yes, HATE - Mark Bagley as an
>artist.
Who hates Bagley? His art looks polished enough, and gets his comics done quick as Hell. I approve.
>True. But I also think the genius of Powers is in it's ability
>to be whatever kind of story that it needs to be. Powers is a
>cops & robbers story on the surface, but at various times
>during the run, stories have run the gamut from murder mystery
>to pop culture commentary, VH1 Behind The Music type
>documentarianism to political drama, "what if superman went
>apeshit" type stories (years before Irredeemable) to
>intergalactic sci-fi adventure. And everything in between.
>This - combined w/ the fact that it allows Bendis to write in
>an uncensored, unrestricted, and (most importantly) SELF
>CONTAINED format - is what makes Powers some of his best work.
I agree, even though I have more aforementioned reservations about when he tries to tackle "big" issues. Plus, the origin of superheroes as monkeys? Walker fights the Devil? C'mon.
>Yeah, he lost a lotta points w/ me on that one. SI proved that
>Bendis doesn't have the chops to effectively write an
>exciting, well-paced, company-wide crossover. After Secret
>Invasion, I'm convinced that he's at his best when he's
>relegated to solo or small ensemble, self contained material.
Which is why I don't like him on the Avengers titles. I don't think he writes "center-piece of the universe stories" very well.
>This is the only thing I can't really co-sign on. I fux w/ New
>Avengers. It's not always great, and it tends to spend way too
>much time in set-up mode for whatever Marvel's next big event
>will be. But I think it's always compelling at the very least.
>And I appreciate the mixture of 2nd & 3rd tier characters like
>Luke Cage and Echo w/ icons like Spidey and Wolverine. Bendis'
>characterization of the latter two is one of the main things
>that keep me coming back.
I like a few of the initial New Avnegers arcs. And I liked the initial stuff about the rise of the Hood. But yes, it got waaaaay too bogged down in the cross-company events. And as a result, if you think about it, not a lot of stories with the first New Avengers line-up were even told.
See, but a huge issue I have with him comes from when he tries to "revive" unused characters. Sometimes it works: Luke Cage, for example, and sort of The Hood. A lot of the times it doesn't. He shoves these characters down our throats and then expects the readers to give a shit about them. "JESSICA DREW IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE BECAUSE I SAY SO! WAIT, NOW IT'S CAROL DANVERS! NO, NOW IT'S JESSICA DREW AGAIN! YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME AND OBEY!" He never makes the characters earn their status, like say, Geoff Johns did with Black Adam and the Sinestro.
Add to the fact that has characterization of some of these characters is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY off. Marvel Boy is the most egreious example; The Hood is to a lesser degree. And don't make me start with Hawkeye/Ronin.
I actually stil lbelieve Bendis has the tools to be great, he just needs to aim lower, rather than higher, and focus his scope.
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